By
Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori
If people of bid’ah and those who pitch tent with them are the ones praising me regarding a position I hold that aligns with their own position, then I need to be very careful.
The aspect of the clarification I find contradictory was its conclusion. Imām said he does not encourage bowing and kneeling to greet yet in the Khutbah, he clearly said people can do it if that is what is accepted as a custom of greeting in their area and even insinuated that those who hold the view that it is harām or shirk of causing problems in their families by not doing it to their parents. As he is bold to attack the popular view among the people of Sunnah on this matter, then the unpopular view he has propagated deserves to be refuted strongly. This is just another fitnah from within that we need to handle with calmness. Alhamdulillah, the scholars of Sunnah have been correcting the error with wisdom. Let us follow them and learn. Let’s not be distracted by those using the opportunity to attack the Sunnah and its people.
Besides, it is hard to find a matter that is clearly harām in the Deen without finding a scholar who may say it is halāl. That is a mistake from him and we are not supposed to follow the mistake. Scholars are not perfect. It is not proper to insist on an opinion that is built upon clear error. In matters involving halāl and harām, the best thing is to go for the safest view. For instance, there are among trustworthy scholars who hold that Mawlid Celebration is permissible if done with good intention. That is a mistake from them because good intention does not justify a bid’ah or an act that clearly constitutes imitation of the Kuffār. We are not to follow the mistakes of a scholar or a set of scholars. We should rather propagate the safest view and encourage people to follow it.
Let us come to think of it, if we are to be going for a juristic verdict that backs up our preconceived views on religious matters, what will be left of our faith? Any scholar that says it is permissible to bow or kneel to greet is upon an error and that error should not be followed or propagated. The softest verdict that any scholar can give on that matter is that it is makruh (detested) if his intention is not to worship the person being honoured. And in some cases, when scholars say something is makruh, they mean harām. They are just being careful not to declare it harām.
